DIFFERENCES IN ONLINE PRIVACY & SECURITY ATTITUDES BASED ON ECONOMIC LIVING STANDARDS: A GLOBAL STUDY OF 24 COUNTRIES

This work explores online privacy and security attitudes from 24,143 individuals across 24 countries with diverse economic living standards. By using k-mode analysis, we identified three distinct profiles based on similarity in Internet security and privacy attitudes measured by 83 items. By comparing the aggregated dissimilarity measures between each respondent and the centroid values of the three profiles at the country level, we assigned each country to their best-fitting privacy profile. We found significant differences in GDP per capita between profiles 1 (highest GDP) to 3 (lowest). People in profiles with higher GDP per capita have significantly greater privacy concerns in relation to information being monitored or bought and sold. These individuals are also more reluctant towards government surveillance of online communication as well as less likely to agree that governments should work with other public and private entities to develop online security laws. As economic living standards improve, the proportion of individuals increases in profile 1, decreases in profile 2, and most rapidly drops in profile 3. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first research that systematically examines country-level privacy in relation to a national economic variable using GDP per capita

“We come together as one…and hope for solidarity to live on”: On designing technologies for activism and the commemoration of lost lives

On the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers (IDEVASW), sex worker rights advocates and support services commemorate lives lost due to violence. In this paper we describe and reflect on a Feminist Participatory Action Research project that supported the activities of IDEVASW over two years in North East England. Working alongside a charity that provides services to women who are sex workers or have experienced sexual exploitation, we co-organised the first activist march on the day. As researchers and service providers, we present detailed reflections on the use of digital technologies during the public activist march, a private service for commemoration, and the development of a semi-public archive to collect experiences of the day. We develop three implications for the design of digital technologies for activism and the commemoration of lost lives: as catalysts for reflection and opportunities to layer experience

The Design of Online Environments (Political Hashtags) and the Quality of Democratic Discourse At-Scale

Facilitating democratic discourse, or people's ability to access factual information in service of thoughtful discussion of social issues, is critical for democracies to function properly. However, with the rise of online fake news, misinformation, and political extremism, it is becoming increasingly difficult to have civil conversations on the internet. As a first step to addressing this issue, scholars need to understand how the current design of online environments shapes people’s ability to respectfully engage across social and political differences. In this dissertation, I investigate how common social media design features, such as hashtags directly impact the quality of democratic discourse at-scale. Using natural language processing, statistics, and experimental design, I empirically demonstrate how linguistic behavior and the presence of political hashtags in online social media news articles impact the quality of discussions surrounding race, gender, and equality. Through my findings, I provide a theoretical examination of functionality and intertextuality as critical aspects of online design. Online design considerations that consider functionality alone tend to promote a digital public sphere that predominantly favors hashtag (or content) producers over non-users and passive content consumers. The sole emphasis on the functionality of design features drives frequency-driven research practices that prioritize discourse conditions for hashtag producers through volume-based definitions of discussion quality. Collectively, the research studies in this thesis are motivated by a desire to understand how online spaces can be better designed to foster interaction and discourse that can bridge rather than sharpen social differences. Results from this dissertation research strongly indicate that scholars, designers, and engineers need to rethink and evaluate how current methodological approaches that prioritize the functionality of online design choices are limiting the way we understand the quality of democratic discourse on the internet. As a step towards this direction, I evoke Kristeva’s notion of intertextuality to demonstrate how online design choices facilitate the power of language in which important social topics are discussed across networks

The Design of Online Environments (Political Hashtags) and the Quality of Democratic Discourse At-Scale

Facilitating democratic discourse, or people's ability to access factual information in service of thoughtful discussion of social issues, is critical for democracies to function properly. However, with the rise of online fake news, misinformation, and political extremism, it is becoming increasingly difficult to have civil conversations on the internet. As a first step to addressing this issue, scholars need to understand how the current design of online environments shapes people’s ability to respectfully engage across social and political differences. In this dissertation, I investigate how common social media design features, such as hashtags directly impact the quality of democratic discourse at-scale. Using natural language processing, statistics, and experimental design, I empirically demonstrate how linguistic behavior and the presence of political hashtags in online social media news articles impact the quality of discussions surrounding race, gender, and equality. Through my findings, I provide a theoretical examination of functionality and intertextuality as critical aspects of online design. Online design considerations that consider functionality alone tend to promote a digital public sphere that predominantly favors hashtag (or content) producers over non-users and passive content consumers. The sole emphasis on the functionality of design features drives frequency-driven research practices that prioritize discourse conditions for hashtag producers through volume-based definitions of discussion quality. Collectively, the research studies in this thesis are motivated by a desire to understand how online spaces can be better designed to foster interaction and discourse that can bridge rather than sharpen social differences. Results from this dissertation research strongly indicate that scholars, designers, and engineers need to rethink and evaluate how current methodological approaches that prioritize the functionality of online design choices are limiting the way we understand the quality of democratic discourse on the internet. As a step towards this direction, I evoke Kristeva’s notion of intertextuality to demonstrate how online design choices facilitate the power of language in which important social topics are discussed across networks